Cascade Sunset

I waited 5 hours on this ridge for sunset. I thought the hike would take longer but it wasn’t that bad of a place to wait and watch until the light changed. I while I waited, I watched intensely at a thunder storm as it passed south of me, hoping it never came too close. It passed and I scoped out a decent composition. From this ridge you could see almost all the prominent volcanoes of Oregon but the main ones you see in my image are the Sisters.

Right as the light began to “pop” I saw a black bear tumble up the ridge side maybe a thousand yards away. I kept an eye on him. Then ten minutes later he was about 200 yards away walking kinda towards me. I got this shot, packed up my gear and hiked back. I would have waited for the pink/red firey skies but I was hiking solo and I didn’t know if the bear was walking towards me out of coincidence or cause he smelt my salmon jerky. Overall, I think this image was worth waiting for and hiking quickly back in the dark.

This is an panoramic image of three vertical photos with additional photos for exposure bracketing. I bracketed for the foreground, mountains, and sky. After combining the difference exposure photos into panamera via lightroom, I blended the images together in photoshop by painting where I wanted proper exposures. After that I did some luminosity mask adjustments with TK7.

Anyone else have interesting wildlife encounters while shooting nature photography?

Specific Feedback Requested

General thoughts, comments, and suggestions are all appreciated!

Technical Details

Is this a composite: Yes

1 Like

Ben,

Haven’t had a chance yet, so first off a belated welcome to NPN! Glad to have you here!

And a gorgeous alpine sunset it is! You’ve created some great depth here - from the rocks in the foreground - all the way to the distant peaks in the UR.

Outstanding job on the blending and processing work. Can’t say I have any nits or suggestions regarding processing, color, contrast etc.

The view and comp is just as good as the processing. The large snow field at the bottom looks really more like a lake - or at least it could be. All the big patches of snow are working beautifully in reflecting the light and colors.

Maybe I’m wishing for more of a cliche’d sun-star… but heck, can’t have everything. Enjoying this very much. Makes me wish I was there.

Lon

Thank you Lon!

I did try a composition with a sun star but when I went to edit the photos were too far off to be aligned. Must have knocked the tripod legs. Oh well. I’m happy with this view.